Nov 8 (Reuters) – Wall Street ended higher on Tuesday in the vote in the midterm elections that will determine control of the U.S. Congress, with investors betting on a political deadlock that could prevent major policy changes.
It was the third straight day of gains in the U.S. stock market, leaving the Dow Jones Industrial Average (.DJI) down less than 10% year-to-date.
Helping the blue-chip Dow, shares of drugmaker Amgen Inc (AMGN.O) rose nearly 6% to a record high after the company released positive data related to its cholesterol drug and the treatment of obesity.
The 435 seats in the House of Representatives and some 35 seats in the Senate are in the running, with experts saying there could be days of waiting before knowing who won certain races. Nonpartisan forecasts and opinion polls suggested a strong chance of Republicans securing a majority in the House and a close race for control of the Senate.
“As a whole, financial markets love traffic jams. As change will be slow and evolutionary, a divided government of course provides that backdrop,” said Terry Sandven, chief equity strategist at US Bank Wealth. Management in Minneapolis.
A surprise victory for Democrats, however, could raise concerns about regulation of the tech sector as well as fiscal spending that could add to already high inflation, market strategists say.
Investors are also awaiting a key inflation reading due on Thursday, which should show an easing in consumer prices and provide further clues about whether the US Federal Reserve could ease its campaign of aggressive interest rate hikes. interest.
Traders are divided on whether the Fed will raise rates by 50 basis points or 75 basis points at the central bank meeting in December, according to CME tool Fedwatch.
Cryptocurrency-related stocks including Coinbase Global (COIN.O) and Microstrategy (MSTR.O) fell after crypto giant Binance signed a non-binding deal to buy the non-US unit of its rival FTX in order to help cover a “liquidity crisis” at the cryptocurrency exchange.
“Some investors will shoot first and ask questions later, but the good thing is that crypto is sort of isolated. They’re on their own, they really aren’t part of the equity market,” said Joe Saluzzi, co- trading director at Themis. Trade in Chatham, New Jersey.
The S&P 500 (.SPX) is up about 7% from its October closing low, but remains down about 20% in 2022 on concerns that aggressive rate hikes by the Fed won’t cripple the US economy.
The S&P 500 climbed 0.56% to end the session at 3,828.13 points.
The Nasdaq gained 0.49% to 10,616.20 points, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.02% to 33,160.83 points.
Of the 11 sector indices in the S&P 500, 10 advanced, led by materials (.SPLRCM), up 1.72%, followed by a 0.92% gain in information technology (.SPLRCT ).
Take-Two Interactive Software Inc (TTWO.O) fell nearly 14% after the video game maker lowered its full-year sales outlook, while ride-sharing company Lyft Inc (LYFT.O) fell nearly 14% 23% after forecasting current-quarter revenue below Wall Street estimates.
Advancing issues outnumbered declining ones in the S&P 500 (.AD.SPX) by a ratio of 2.5 to one.
The S&P 500 posted 21 new highs and 9 new lows; the Nasdaq recorded 97 new highs and 258 new lows.
Volume on U.S. exchanges was relatively light, with 11.7 billion shares traded, compared to an average of 11.8 billion shares over the previous 20 sessions.
Reporting by Noel Randewich in Oakland, California, and David Carnevali in New York Additional reporting by Amruta Khandekar, Sruthi Shankar, Devik Jain and Shubham Batra in Bengaluru Editing by Maju Samuel and Matthew Lewis
Our standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
#Wall #Street #ends #higher #investors #watch #midterms